Well, it turns out that in terms of creative writing, March Break means BREAK, dad, so instead of Jon adding his thoughts to these photos, it will be me. Sorry folks.
Recently, our local subway station completed its elevator installation, and Jon can now accompany us anywhere on the TTC subway line. That has an elevator. That is working. Still, it is not only a great step forward, but made for one excited 9-year-old boy. Jon was stoked for the day.
On the platform, waiting for his first train in living memory.
In some of the cars, if you are able to find select seats empty, you can access wheelchair locks.
Destination reached: St. Lawrence Market in just over an hour, door to door. In the downtown core, elevator connections to street level are in the office towers, so some searching is required.
Tired but happy, Jon finds a little cocooning time at Shopsy’s.
This first trip was quite exhausting, and we were all grumpy for the rest for the day. But two days later we followed up with another subway excursion, and it was a piece of cake. Needless to say, Jon is absolutely subway-crazed these days.
Woo hoo, Jon! Did your parents show you the view from the Prince Edward Viaduct? Cuz if they didn’t…
It’s tough to see down from a wheelchair away from the window. Especially since that’s about thirty seconds pre-arrival/post-departure (finding space, setting brakes on). But we certainly showed him that we were outside and up high. Jon seemed more impressed by the absence of those things: a couple of times he happily exclaimed, “This tunnel is really dark!”
Ooh! Ooh! Jon, get them to take you to either the first or last car on the train, especially on the University line, or when it goes outside westbound past Dundas West! Sometimes you can see subway workers in the dark tunnels, and there’s a section where the tunnel is round! Plus the mysterious lost station under the real Bay Station that you can only see for a second from the first or last car when entering or leaving Bay Station!
Never mind, I’ll arrange a tour.